Archive for March, 2010

This highly recommended series of publicly-funded sound art CDs is a joint initiative of the Community Radio Education Society (CRES) and Vancouver’s Co-Op Radio 102.7FM (home of the essential Art of Beatz show).

The series is very heavy on Vancouver and ex-Vancouver-based electronica types. On Volume Five alone, you get Souns, Jesse Scott, granny’ark and Tanya Pea (granny’ark’s “Sauna” steals the show).

Like Ekkehard Ehlers (his partner in the Autopoieses duo), Meissner seems to be very interested in creating music which takes a high-concept approach to sampling, without sacrificing the harmonic and textural beauty of the original sampled materials.

As you might expect, Movies is Magic is based around distinctly cinematic sounding samples, presumably lifted directly from film soundtracks. Instead of simply letting these samples loop, as Ehlers might, Meissner subtly disrupts and destabilizes them in a manner that recalls the best work of Vladislav Delay.

It’s a thoroughly compelling, intelligent and beautiful piece of work that deserves to be heard as widely as possible. Maybe, just maybe, if enough of you buy the CD from Boomkat, Anticipate will do the right thing and release Movies is Magic on vinyl.

By popular request, here is a high-quality MP3 of the Peel Session version of My Bloody Valentine’s “Lose My Breath”. And here’s a link to a rather gothy blog, from which you can download the whole session, though not – presumably – in the same level of quality. Weird how MBV seems to be becoming a bit of a goth staple.

For your downloading convenience, this release is presented as two sides of a “virtual vinyl” LP. Side A features twinkly high-end bliss, while side B offers a richer, more deeply textured sound experience.